Shock and Awe

Saw my primary doc. Nice person. Listens really well and we seem to dovetail a lot in our thinking. So far.

While they aren't super concerned either about the nagging thing I finally decided to be sure was nothing, we are going to run a few tests.

Here's hoping I am a hypochondriac on this one.

The funny part of the visit was, we got side-tracked by the adrenal stuff. And my doc was horrified, absolutely horrified, to hear what I'm doing with prednisone.

Which is basically taking whatever dose I think will help with zero input from the endo and no lab work to provide empirical data to determine if what I'm doing is the right thing to do.

Oh, hahahahaha.

Isn't that funny?

In a what-the-f*ck-are-some-doctors-thinking way?

It was kind of funny to see the pcp work a bit to maintain their demeanor, they almost let it slip, they were so shocked by my free-range patient status.

So I got a referral to the endo I was trying to get into see a few weeks? a few months? ago. I couldn't make an appointment without a referring physician. My insurance does not require a referral but the Endo. Dept. does.

It's "department policy."

How ironic. Who saw that twist in access to health care coming? Not me!

But now I have a referral and they have to give me an appointment. So take your policy and *bleeeeeeeeeeeeep*.

As for the asthma, it's been really bitchy since yesterday and my PCP was all up in arms about why I wasn't taking Pulmicort and why I wasn't doing a flu shot.

Okay, for the record, I do the flu shot all the time, but this year I don't like the shot. I have some issues with it because of the H1N1 component and that's as deep as I want to go on that issue. It's not a stance I necessarily endorse for anyone else but me in my particular situation.

The science of vaccines is solid. Vaccines work. The implementation though is full of problems.

As for the Pulmicort, all I could say was "I don't care if I can breathe, I want my adrenal glands back and I'm not going to enable the suppression unless I have to. The priority is the adrenal glands."

Also, I am not seriously sick. This is not serious asthma. It's uncomfortable and unpleasant but not dangerous. It is very likely that when I went down to 2mg I hit the threshold where the lack of steroid was going to trigger my asthma.

So yes, when I woke up today I could not breathe. When I talked, I panted. I had cramps all through my rib cage. However, with the rescue inhaler, by the time I saw the doc, all that had passed and I had good air movement.

When they saw the good air movement and couldn't hear a single solitary wheeze, they backed off on the 'Why aren't you taking care of your asthma' lecture.

Asthma can still surprise me, but I feel like I know my brand of asthma pretty well. If things get serious I will take care of it, but right now, I'm not sick enough for anything more than a rescue inhaler.